Art Returns 2023
In 2023, the Chinese film market showed a trend of recovery and growth. It only took 317 days for the box office to exceed 50 billion yuan. This is the first time in recent years that the Chinese film box office has returned to 50 billion yuan. Among them, there are leading films from heavy industry and small and medium-sized budget films that serve as "waist power", especially "Space Exploration Editorial Department", "Octagonal Cage", "Desperate", "Her Disappearance", "Mistake by the River", etc. Small and medium-cost films with diverse innovations and unique styles have frequently broken through the industry, successfully attracting audiences into theaters, and repeatedly triggering a movie-watching craze. "Spending the least money to make high-quality movies" has become the consensus of filmmakers.
Small and medium-cost movies frequently hit high box office
“A small- to medium-cost film, whether in terms of form, subject matter, narrative method or performance, must be extreme, so that people will be willing to spend money to travel such a long way to see you in the cinema. "Movies." When it comes to film creation, Yin Hong, vice chairman of the Chinese Film Association, professor at Tsinghua University, and chairman of the Theoretical Review Committee of the China Film Association, believes that small and medium-cost films must create a reason for the audience to watch movies and provide "theatre quality". ".
In 2023, a gratifying phenomenon is that small and medium-cost films will attract audiences into theaters. Taking the summer season as an example, this year's box office has become the "strongest in history" with a box office of 20.6 billion yuan. "Despite", "The Vanishing", "The Octagon" and "Hot" respectively received 3.847 billion yuan and 3.523 billion yuan respectively. Films such as "Tea No. 2 Middle School" are small and medium-budget films. With these works blooming in full bloom, 52.7% of the summer audience went to the cinema for the first time this year, which is a significant increase compared to 44.6% in 2019. Due to the frequent release of blockbusters in the summer season, low-frequency audiences are attracted back to the cinema, and the new attraction ratio of many movies is more than 10%. This "new attraction" ability has far-reaching significance for the sustained and healthy development of the Chinese film market.
Small and medium-cost films can produce "phenomenal" works, such as "Space Exploration Editorial Department", which was released in April this year and is known as the miracle film. This work directed by Kong Dashan has the style of pseudo-documentary + soft science fiction, as if " "The romance of the universe is woven into an absurd dream", presenting to the audience the image of Chief Editor Tang who seems to be unreasonable but sounds self-contained and is extremely keen on exploring aliens, making the audience excited with Chief Editor Tang and other weirdos. Embark on an imaginative journey of "searching for aliens". This unique and curious science fiction comedy has gained a good reputation.
What also caused "brainstorming" across the Internet was "The Mistake by the River" directed by Wei Shujun. He successfully adapted the original work "The Mistake by the River" by writer Yu Hua onto the screen. The film is not a criminal investigation film in the traditional sense, but rather pioneering and stream-of-consciousness, leading the audience from the riverside murder case to the ultimate mystery that is unsolvable and always unsolvable. Many metaphors and the dislocation of dreamy time and space set off a world-wide... Net interprets the enthusiasm of this movie. The box office of the film exceeded 300 million yuan, and the unpopular literary film became a hot hit.
Presenting the brilliance of young directors
"A talented director must have a way to surprise you within the plan." Director Xu Zheng's "囧囧" once earned 1.27 billion yuan in box office at a cost of 14 million yuan. He believes that the creators of small and medium-cost films thinking is very important. After all, "using a small amount to make a big difference" is not about head-on confrontation, but about highlighting one's own edge so that the film can successfully attract the audience.
In 2023, many newcomers to the film industry will stand out with new works, adding vitality to the film market. Films such as "The Disappearance of Her", "Desperate", "Second-hand Masterpiece" and "Parrot Killing" are all produced by young directors. Fortunately, these young directors have mature and thoughtful "genius filmmakers" to support them.
When it comes to filmmakers with ideas in the film industry, Chen Sicheng is one of them. He serves as the producer and screenwriter. "She Disappeared", directed by Cui Rui and Liu Xiang, is highly entertaining and made this year's summer season a "good start". In the form of the film, through the puzzle setting of reversal, reversal, and reversal, many viewers have a desire to get a glimpse of the truth.The setting of the emotional and social issues of marriage makes the work not superficial, and its participation and resonance continue to increase the box office.
Another talented director in the film industry, Ning Hao, once illuminated China's low-cost film market at the time with "Crazy Stone" in 2006. Today, Ning Hao continues to lead his Bad Monkey Pictures to achieve miracles with his clever mind. As a producer, he teamed up with young directors Shen Yu and Wang Zizhao to create "Desperate" and "Second-hand Masterpiece" respectively, which have injected considerable enthusiasm into the 2023 film market.
Director Wei Shujun has two works released this year. In addition to "The Mistake by the River", "The Story of Yong'an Town" will be released in September this year. The film brings the director's consistent wit, humor and ridicule, and condenses all the essence into a small film. The small town of Yong'an is like a pebble thrown into the bottom of a lake, causing ripples but eventually returning to normal. Everyone is constantly struggling in life, but compromises again and again.
Civilian stories and realistic themes attract attention
Back then, "Crazy Stone" had a box office of 23.5 million yuan with a production cost of 3.5 million yuan. The "Stone Effect" it showed had the greatest inspiration for domestic movies, which was to abandon luxury. The packaging uses images to honestly tell the audience stories of civilians and present a vivid sense of life. This experience was implemented by Wang Baoqiang in his new film "The Octagonal Cage", which achieved a box office success of 2.207 billion yuan.
"The Octagon" has no gimmick promotion, no big production, no gorgeous special effects, and no big stars, but it still received market and word-of-mouth response. This is Wang Baoqiang's second directorial work. The film uses a realist context to present small characters, telling the story of a child who came out of the mountains to find a way out through boxing practice. It perfectly combines realistic care with action elements. In the film, elements such as the inaccessible mountains, winding and bumpy mountain roads, and simple battlefields bring a rough quality of life to the audience. Wang Baoqiang said that this film was made for ordinary people. He hopes to show real ordinary people, so that the audience can feel the sincerity in the creation of the film and establish an emotional connection with the film.
Realistic-themed movies that also pursue profundity and a sense of the times include "All or Nothing", "School Dad" and so on. The director's bid for the Olympic Games stated that the massive amount of real information in "All or Nothing" was obtained through interviews with relevant victims, survivors who successfully escaped and returned to China after being kidnapped, as well as public security officers fighting on the front line of anti-fraud, in addition to a large number of investigative reporters. Written news reports. Su Liang, the director of "School Dad", uses the conflict between father and son of "younger child to younger child" as an entry point, focusing on the most popular real-life issues such as "involution and lying down", "anxiety and reconciliation". Through several groups of families represented by Lei Dali and Lei Xiaomi's father and son, it shows the appearance of typical Chinese families, explores family relationships and individual growth in modern society, and also wraps the core of healing and reconciliation under the shell of reality, trying to Find answers to difficult situations. Because the film penetrated into the daily mentality of Chinese parents, the film received high attention, and the box office eventually reached 617 million yuan.
Summary
Small and medium-cost films are a promising experimental field
The "14th Five-Year Plan for Chinese Film Development" released in 2021 mentioned in the goals that film development must strive to achieve that there must be 50 domestic films with a box office of over 100 million yuan every year. about. To achieve this goal, large-scale productions alone are not enough. A considerable number of small and medium-cost films of high quality and diverse types are needed.
In recent years, the Chinese film market has evolved from a pyramid structure supported by one or two films to a more stable structure. Large-scale productions that simply rely on film special effects can no longer fully meet the aesthetic and emotional needs of the public. Small and medium-cost films that can provide more emotional value have become a force that cannot be ignored.
In 2023, many excellent small and medium-cost films demonstrated the creativity of the creators in all aspects and gained a good reputation.For example, "The Light of the White Tower" directed by Zhang Lu, "I Love Dunhuang" directed by Miao Yue, "One and Four" directed by Jiumei Chenglie, "Send the Crane A Thousand Miles" directed by Lahuaga, and "Send the Crane Away" directed by Dapeng. Works such as "Keep You Safe", "Moonlight Samurai" directed by Hong Ying, and the animated film "Tea No. 2 Middle School" all show more possibilities for movies.
Although many small and medium-cost films are still at a disadvantage in terms of publicity and distribution, they have left a deep impression on the audience. As Du Qingchun, associate professor of the Department of Literature at Beijing Film Academy, said, it is impossible to expect small and medium-cost films to create box office miracles, but there are still opportunities to create surprises.
The creators of small and medium-cost films are relying on their love for movies and doing their best to explore the road to survival, trying to reverse the "20-8 split" phenomenon in which 20% of high-cost films account for more than 80% of the box office output. . For example, Zeng Wusen, the director of "The Narrow Road", made a promise to "refund the tickets if they don't look good", and even developed a small program for audience refunds; the writer Hong Ying tried to distribute "Moonlight Samurai" by himself, and worked with theaters one by one. The manager was "struggling". Perhaps they have not achieved corresponding success, but they are providing valuable experience for Chinese films to explore the future.
Small and medium-cost films are receiving support from the entire industry. The National Film Work Conference held in May 2023 proposed the goal of doing a good job in weekend releases and forming market differentiation, which is also helping small and medium-cost films to further open up space. Rao Shuguang, president of the Chinese Film Critics Society, said: "We hope that more small and medium-cost films can occupy the weekend slots, because movie consumption or people's movie-watching habits are most directly related to the holidays. If we can make weekend movies If we do this, the development space of Chinese films will be opened up."
Rao Shuguang said that as the "base" of the film ecology, small and medium-cost films are not only the "main battlefield" for young creators, but also the "test field" for genre and technological innovation. ". Only by increasing support and guarantees for the production of small and medium-cost films can we continue to deliver productivity and creativity to commercial blockbusters and "cultivate the depth of box office soil for Chinese movie audiences."
In 2023, we can already see the vitality of many small and medium-cost films, which are adding a flourishing scene to Chinese films and further activating the vitality of the film market.
Chinese movie keywords in 2023
Re-releases
In recent years, many classic movies have been re-released, creating a "nostalgic trend", and there is still no shortage of re-released films in 2023.
2023 is the 25th anniversary of the release of "Red Lovers". The film is scheduled to be released on September 12. It will be transferred from the film version to the digital version and return to the big screen again, and will be released in the National Art Film Exhibition Alliance Cinema Line. On April 3, 2023, the 4k/3d remake of "Titanic" will be re-released to commemorate the 25th anniversary and will be released in China for the third time.
There are two classic films directed by Hayao Miyazaki this year: "Castle in the Sky" was released in mainland theaters on June 1. The box office on its opening day exceeded 30 million, which is about 580 million yen. This is the first time in 37 years. It set off a movie-watching craze; another "Porco Rosso" was released in the National Art Federation's dedicated theaters on November 17, with a cumulative box office of over 20 million, and will be extended to January 16, 2024.
Familiar faces
For some actors, this year has been a intensive period of appearances.
For example, Zhang Yi has four movies this year including "Man Jiang Hong" and "The Third Brigade", Huang Bo has four movies including "Hot" and "Fengshen Part 1", Andy Lau has four movies including "The Wandering Earth 2" and "Operation Moscow", Tony Leung Chiu-wai There are three movies including "Unknown", "When the Wind Rises Again" and "Goldfinger", Lei Jiayin has three movies including "Exchange Life", "Man Jiang Hong" and "Sturdy as a Rock", and Zhang Guoli has "Sturdy as a Rock" and "That Thing My Dad Didn't Say". and "Ordinary Men and Women" three movies, Liu Yase has three movies "Exes 4: Young Marriage", "I am a Mountain" and "Stealth", etc.
In addition to actors, some directors are equally productive. For example, Qiu Litao has four films released this year: "Moscow Operation", "Anti-Drug 3: At the End of the World", "Assassination Storm" and "Jedi's Pursuit"; Zhang Yimou has "Man Jiang Hong" and "Solid as a Rock"; Wei Shujun has "Stories of Yong'an Town" and "The Mistake by the River."
Fengshen
After 9 years of preparation and creation, "Fengshen Part 1", the opening work of the mythological epic film "Fengshen Trilogy" directed by Wu Ershan, was finally released on July 20, 2023. The film production process was very arduous, with a two-year preparation period, an 18-month shooting period, and a total of 438 shooting days. To complete the film, the film employed 8,000 preparation and filming staff and 1,565 post-production staff.
The release process of "Fengshen Part 1" was full of drama. Although the box office on the first day was less than 50 million yuan, it eventually counterattacked and became a "hit" with a box office of more than 2.6 billion yuan. Although the audience received mixed reviews, these voices triggered many topics for the film. Through crazy publicity and the promotion of "tap water" fans, the film eventually not only popularized a group of young actors, but also made the "first-generation idol" Fei Xiang popular again.
Realism
2023 is a year when realism-themed movies are very popular, such as "All or Nothing", "The Lost Girl", "The Octagon", "Solid as a Rock", "The Third Team", "School Dad" and "Wade in the Angry Sea". ”, either focusing on social hot spots or touching the hearts of the audience. The audience is comforted, moved and inspired by these realistic themes.
Cartoons
There are many excellent cartoons this year, and the most eye-catching one is undoubtedly "Chang'an Thirty Thousand Miles". In "Thirty Thousand Miles from Chang'an", the scene of Li Bai "whose embroidered mouth spits out half of the prosperous Tang Dynasty" is extremely splendid. Li Bai, Gao Shi, Du Fu, Wang Wei and many stars of the Tang Dynasty appeared together to show the splendor of the Tang Dynasty and pursue the pursuit together. The touching story of life ideals also resonates with the audience. The implantation of 48 Tang poems in the film contributed to the popularization of Tang poetry.
In addition, domestic animations such as "Deep Sea" and "Tea No. 2 Middle School" are all excellent works this year, plus "Slam Dunk" and "Crayon Shin-chan: New Dimension!" "Superpower Showdown" and other animated films in 2023 will allow audiences to have diversified experiences in terms of technology, themes, styles, etc.
This page’s text/reporter Xiao Yang Coordinator/Man Yi
Source: Beijing Youth Daily
